Disquieting Times in Chicago as the Cubs Cling to a Lead

Jason Heyward made the catch in the eighth inning of a victory over the Mets on Tuesday night.

Matt Marton / Associated Press

By JEFF ARNOLD

September 13, 2017

CHICAGO — As the autumnal bluish orange sky faded to black on Tuesday night over this city’s North Side, Cubs fans gathered at Wrigley Field not exactly sure what to expect.

A year after their team ran away with the National League Central on the way to the franchise’s first World Series title since 1908, they were simply hoping that the Cubs could hold on to their shrunken division lead through the rest of September and get a chance to defend their title in the postseason.

In other words, a season that started with the Cubs raising a championship flag had become something of a war of attrition, especially after the Cubs were swept at home last weekend by the Milwaukee Brewers, who, along with the St. Louis Cardinals, are trying to win the N.L. Central themselves.

The best news for the Cubs was that they now got to play the Mets in a three-game series. Two Octobers ago, the Mets battered the Cubs in the National League Championship Series, but these days the New York club is a collection of unproven players finishing out a season that went belly up a while ago.

Even so, the Cubs continued to scuffle early on Tuesday night, although they were facing a starting pitcher, Robert Gsellman, who has had an unmistakably miserable season. The Cubs squandered early scoring chances and even let the Mets take the lead before Kris Bryant’s three-run blast in the fourth inning gave Chicago a three-run margin that held up in an 8-3 victory.

And with that came at least a small sigh of relief.

“It was nice to win a game after three not-so-nice games,” said Bryant, the reigning most valuable player in the National League.

In the three contests against the Brewers, the Cubs scored all of three runs and saw their division lead narrow to two games. In a season in which the Houston Astros, Los Angeles Dodgers and the Cleveland Indians have taken turns looking unbeatable, the Cubs, with a current record of 78-66, have looked just good enough to repeat as division winners, but nothing more.

But the awful weekend against the Brewers raised the possibility that the Cubs won’t even be able to do that and might not make it as a wild-card team, either. Or at least it raised that possibility in the minds of Cubs fans, who, 2016 aside, have spent a lifetime being disappointed by their team. In the Cubs’ clubhouse before Tuesday’s game, however, the mood was more upbeat.

“I tell everyone, take the positives out of everything to this point, where we are, coming out of the greatest championship in sports history and in position to win the division again,” first baseman Anthony Rizzo said. “I think everyone needs to start rallying around us more now instead of maybe panicking a little bit.”

Rizzo added, “We’re going to get hot.”

That would help. Of the Cubs’ remaining 18 games, 11 will be played against the Cardinals and the Brewers.

The Cardinals, who remain two games back after a victory on Tuesday night against Cincinnati, arrive at Wrigley Field this weekend. The Cubs then travel to Milwaukee, which is now two and a half games out, and St. Louis for eight straight games later this month before they finish the season at home, against the Reds.

Whether that final weekend of the season will be triumphant or nerve-racking remains to be seen.

“We can’t get too far ahead of ourselves,” Bryant said. “No team is just going to roll over.”

Meanwhile, his manager, Joe Maddon, has remained as unflappable as ever and chose not to do anything different — like calling a team meeting — in the wake of the sweep by the Brewers.

“When things tighten up like this, they need you to be consistent, not inconsistent,” Maddon said. “If I were to do something like that — that is something I would never do. It would send all the wrong signals.”

Maddon has instead stuck to his script, seeming to understand that if the Cubs are going to win another championship this season (their title in 1908, after all, followed one in 1907) it will have to be along a bumpier road than last season’s. And he is fine with that.

“I’ve often told my players perfection is a boring concept,” he said. “If it was that easy to do, nobody would ever do it. I like the fact that it’s difficult right now, and I think that we should learn something about ourselves going forward. The biggest thing to learn is that it’s not about anybody else. It’s about us playing well. If we play well and take care of our business, we’ll be fine.”